He is known as one of the greatest actors of all time — with countless accolades to his name — but Dustin Hoffman is first and foremost all about his family. The film icon is the doting dad of his six kids: Karina, Jenna, Jacob, Rebecca, Maxwell and Ali.
The legendary actor has been married twice in his life. The first marriage came to actress Anne Byrne in 1969. They welcomed one child during their union. He and Anne had their only biological kid together, Jenna, in 1970. Dustin also adopted Anne’s eldest daughter, Karina, from a previous relationship. The pair parted ways, however, in 1980.
That same year, The Graduate star tied the knot again to businesswoman Lisa Gottsegen. They went on to have four kids of their own — Jacob, Rebecca, Maxwell and Ali. Though his kids are all adults now, he reminisced on how he approached parenting in 2017, and how his own strained relationship with his father influenced how he raised his kids.
“You inherit certain things,” he told Time magazine. “My wife, we’ve been together 40 years, and she knew my parents. There were times when the kids were little and I would get upset, and she would say, ‘[Your father] Harry’s coming out.’ And she was right. I don’t think there’s a way around it. You spend a lifetime – I do anyway – trying to un-wreck yourself. Because you’ve been wrecked.”
To avoid putting that pressure on his own children, Dustin “never encouraged” his kids to “see his work.” “There were no posters on the wall,” he told Time. “I don’t have a kid who’s seen everything I’ve done. I don’t want to belabor them in that way.”
Today, the Oscar winner and his second wife remain happily married and she is still the rock in his life keeping him down to earth. “I say in Hollywood it is like dog years, so you have to multiply that by seven,” Lisa once joked exclusively to Closer about her union, adding that after decades, she and Dustin “are more in love” today and their affection for each other “continues to grow.”
Now, Dustin’s kids have all grown to appreciate his work. Jake previously shared an experience he had watching one of his dad’s films back in school.
“When I was in high school, they had an anniversary screening of Midnight Cowboy, and I had never seen it,” Jake told E! News in November 2022. “I had no idea what to expect and I was really embarrassed during the screening because I was crying the whole time. People are looking over and they could see that I was there with dad. It was embarrassing.”
Scroll on down to learn a bit about each of Dustin’s six kids!
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